Manhole of Indignity

An American president once said that freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity. But in the dark-suffocating manholes of indignity to which thousands of people are subjected to, in course of their duty of cleaning human waste, there is not even a ray a hope.

Last week I was travelling from Delhi to my hometown in eastern Uttar Pradesh. As I waited for my train which was late by an hour, I cursed the Indian railways for its complete disregard for punctuality. It was a humid evening, all those waiting on the platform were sweating profusely and some of them joined me in criticising the railways in failing to run its trains on time.

As the discussion progressed, one of them said in a sharp, mocking tone, "They talk of running bullet trains, when they can't run the existing ones on time.”

"Look at the tracks, they are so filthy,” another passenger said, while pointing out to the heaps of human excreta lying on the tracks. We all looked at it with disgust but were little bothered to think who will clean it.

After I boarded the train I thought of it and was reminded of an incident that took place in Chandigarh on May 30. Three sanitation workers had died due to suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Sector 47. They entered the sewer line, one after another, through a 25-foot-deep manhole, using a ladder and died while doing their job.

They were employed by a private contractor and soon after their death, the blame game started. While it was debated as to who employed them, the bigger and more important question remained unaddressed: Why a human being is made to suffer such an indignity of dying in a manhole?

It is an established medical fact that toxic fumes the 'safai karamcharis' are made to breath ensure they don’t live beyond their late forties.

The law prohibiting manual scavenging called The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act came into force in 1993. In spite of several orders passed by various courts in country restraining the public authorities from engaging people in this act, there have been numerous instances in the last few years, where people have died performing this act of utmost indignity.

It is shameful that after almost seven decades of independence, manual scavenging continues with many central and state government departments employing manual scavengers in violation of the 1993 Act.

And perhaps the railways is one of the worst offenders as the open discharge system of toilets in train carriages results in excreta having to be manually lifted off the tracks.

While rejecting this act on legal ground will call for nuanced arguments, resorting to minimum humanity to reject it will require very little thinking.

Comments

Other News

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), for all its talk of high ideals, had an image problem right from its inception: that it was a motley crew of politically naïve people. When the going was good, this image came very handy. Arvind Kejriwal and Co. were seen as a fresh new alternative to the usual run-of-the-mi

Prime minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are in the midst of one direct attack, one insidious insinuation and a special kind of offensive. These concerted actions have emerged after both firmly showed their hand and spoke their mind on going down the indigenous path for most o

While the centre has encouraged drug stores that sell generics (as opposed to branded medicines) under the Jan Aushadhi scheme, states have obtained mixed results in the implementation. In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, there are few stores selling generics, but they are unique in that they are run by all-w

A top Reserve Bank of India official had waved the red flag, a year back, regarding the SWIFT messaging system. SWIFT was used in a fraud amounting to Rs 11,000 crore at a Punjab National Bank branch that benefited billionaire diamond jeweler Nirav Modi.
Former RBI deputy gover

Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash’s claim that he was manhandled by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmakers in the presence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has kicked up a storm.
Here is what transpired on Monday night and the events that unfolded through Tuesday.